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State the Pearson's Principle. |
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Answer» (i) It is a simple rule to predict qualitatively the relative stability of acid - base reactions. (ii) "Hard acids prefer to bind to hard bases and soft acids prefer to bind to soft bases". Thus the complex A : B is the most stable when both A and B are either hard or soft. (iii) However, when one of the reactants is very hard and the other very soft, the complex will not be much stable. (iv) Hard-hard interactions involve ionic bonding and soft-soft interactions result primarily from covalent bonding. (v) Soft-soft interaction can be explained on the basis of π-bonding. Soft acids have low oxidation states and possess large number of d-electrons. Thus they can act as π-bond donors and soft bases are generally π-bond acceptors. The presence of d-orbitals on the ligands (except on CO) helps to strengthen the π-bonding. |
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